TAC Fanzine
In February 1988, Dr. Don Rhoden published the first issue of the historic fanzine, The Adventures Continue (aka TAC), which was devoted to George Reeves and the cast and crew of the Adventures of Superman. Don published two issues of The Adventures Continue and then transferred the editorship responsibilities to Jim Nolt. Jim went on to publish several additional issues and later moved the publication into cyberspace with the creation of The Adventures Continue website. Unfortunately, TAC No. 1 as well as most of the other back issues of TAC went out of print long ago. However, you can find pictures of the covers of all the issues along with a brief description of the contents of each one here.
I had the privilege of meeting Don Rhoden in June 2009, at a dinner honoring George Reeves which was hosted by Jim Nolt in New York City. After listening to Don talk about the early days of getting TAC off the ground, it occurred to me that this historic fanzine deserved to be preserved for future fans and scholars to enjoy. So, I contacted Don and Jim with a proposal: to reproduce TAC No. 1 in PDF form. I was delighted that Don and Jim enthusiastically approved of the idea and gave me permission to proceed on the project.
And so, without further ado, I present to you TAC No. 1. Enjoy!
Richard Potter and Don Rhoden - 20 June 2009
Jim Nolt and Richard Potter - 20 June 2009
From: Jim Nolt
Date: Sep 22, 2009
Subject: Great fun publishing TAC
The days of publishing the magazine version of TAC were great fun despite all the work involved. When I took over from Don computers were still new, and I had few skills. Jeff Tisley in Georgia helped me with the photos. I sent the photos to him, and he converted them so that they were useful to the people at my printing company. I sent text files and the photos to Mike Bifulco who laid out the pages, leaving spaces where the photos would eventually be glued on. Mike sent the layout back for my approval. Of course, anytime a change was needed, everything would go back to Mike so he could make those changes. When everything finally looked good, I took the page layouts (with the photos glued onto the pages) to a printing company. While this was going on, I sent out and collected the order forms. When the magazines came back from the printer there was the fun of addressing the hundreds of envelopes, stuffing them, and getting them out. But it surely was all worth it when I could actually hold them in my hands and when notes of thanks came in.
Jim
On September 21, 2009, Jim Nolt (who became publisher/editor of TAC with Issue #3) announced on the Friendly ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN Discussion Board that the PDF version of TAC No. 1 was ready to be viewed. The following day, he went back to the discussion board and reminisced about the early days of publishing TAC. The day after that, Michael J. Hayde (author of Flights of Fantasy and My Name’s Friday) posted a response to Jim’s reflections. I thought their exchange was extremely interesting and with their permission, I reproduce it below.
From: Michael J. Hayde
Date: Sep 23, 2009
Subject: If not for you and Don...
...there wouldn't be a "Flights of Fantasy." There probably wouldn't be a "My Name's Friday" either, because you provided the forum that taught me how to write. The opportunity to have an audience - and their feedback, both good and bad - and also to have the work of other fine writers with which to compare (no question, my prose style owes a good deal to other TAC contributors) was worth a hundred creative writing courses.
And, oh how I loved to get that envelope in the mail with the latest issue! There was always so much GREAT stuff! And while the TAC website has not shirked in providing new information and terrific articles and photos... well... it's just not the same as holding that little magazine in your hands and eagerly devouring each page. There's something... PERMANENT about having it on a printed page.
I know others must feel the same, because I received a bunch of emails during the years that "Superman Comes to Television" was on the web requesting a published version.
On the other hand, this .pdf version of TAC #1 sure is a lot easier to read!!! Kudos to Richard Potter for his labors - that's quite a gift you've given us die-hards!
Anyway, thank you once again, Jim Nolt, for all those years of hard work as TAC's publisher. To paraphrase an unused Jimmy Olsen speech from "The Unlucky Number," you're "the best fanzine editor in Lancaster... probably in the whole United States... maybe in the world. Honest... dedicated... fearless. A credit to our noble profession. You're my Chief."
Michael
The PDF reproduction of TAC #1 is free.
However, if you choose to download the issue, we would like to encourage you to make a contribution to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America, which was one of the organizations that George Reeves supported. Thank you!
PDF reproduction by Richard Potter